BATON ROUGE – For the first time since 2012, the LSU women’s tennis team has received an at-large bid and will face Pepperdine in the first round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Tournament the NCAA announced Tuesday.

This is LSU’s 19th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the team’s first under second-year head coach Sell. The Lady Tigers faced 19th-ranked Texas A&M in the 2012 Tournament, falling to the Aggies 4-1 in the first round.

“It’s exciting,” said LSU head coach Julia S. Sell. “It’s really exciting. The girls are so excited. We knew we were on the bubble, but I knew that we deserved to be in there. For the girls to get that chance to go in and take advantage of another opportunity, it’s as exciting as it can get right now.”

The Lady Tigers will face Pepperdine at noon CT on May 9 at the Hellman Tennis Complex in Berkeley, Calif.

If the Lady Tigers advance, they will face either California or Fairleigh Dickinson in the second round in Berkeley on Saturday, May 10.

LSU is led by freshman Joana Vale Costa who holds an 11-8 record with a 10-7 record at the No. 1 spot. Vale Costa, who ended the regular season ranked No. 88, has topped three ranked opponents on the season, highlighted by a dominating 6-3, 6-0 victory over Auburn’s No. 29 Pleun Burgmanss.

Pepperdine enters the Tournament with an 18-4 overall record and a 9-0 West Coast Conference record.

The SEC will be well-represented in the NCAA Tournament with 11 teams earning bids. In addition to LSU, conference tournament champion Georgia, regular season champion Alabama, Vanderbilt, Florida, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Tennessee, Auburn, Texas A&M and South Carolina will compete in the tournament.